Content marketing is a practice that’s been around for decades. Businesses jumped at the opportunity to retain more website visits and customers than previous methods ever offered. But, like many practices in this ecosystem, content marketing constantly evolves. These frequent shifts make it harder for businesses to keep up and get the most from their marketing strategies.
These tips can help you attract the right kind of attention for your business. It may take some time to see any significant changes in the numbers, but marketing isn’t the kind of thing you test out for a month or two. With a bit of hard work and research, your business can land on top.
Build a Content Marketing System
The first piece to your marketing efforts is building an in-depth content marketing system. A content marketing system is an action plan, a series of guidelines. Your system outlines all the goals you want to accomplish with your marketing and how you plan to achieve them.
Systems will differ from company to company, but the core elements for each one remain the same. Our company broke our system down into three essential parts:
- System (research)
- Create (content)
- Amplify (promotion)
Research Everything First
Each pillar feeds the other. The first part contains all the necessary information to learn more about your target audience, analyze website traffic, and monitor social media profiles. After all, you can’t create great content without proper research.
Have Fun with Content Creation
Once your research is done, it’s time to get into the fun stuff, your content creation. Content comes in many different forms. Often, creators think content stops at the basics like blog and social media posts, but it also contains visuals like infographics and gated content.
Promote, Promote, Promote
Lastly, our final part includes marketing efforts. Just like with content, content marketing can take many forms. It might sound daunting, but marketing is a fun way to try out different methods and see which yields the most engagement from customers. Strategies like social engagement, advertisements, and PR campaigns are all good jumping points.
Many marketers know the importance of promoting content. Julia Mankovskaya, a digital marketer for Daxx, believes marketing can seriously suffer without proper promotion. “Your content marketing can die if you don’t share it. In the meantime, if you share it, you increase your chances to be found, linked and promoted further by other people.”
Each part of our system is a crucial requirement for a successful content marketing strategy; you can’t make great content without research and great content won’t be seen without promotion. With the right methods, your business can reap the benefits of marketing for years.
Implement a Killer Website
Part of a successful content marketing system is having a strong website. It’s not enough for it to simply look nice. Websites need to be optimized for portable devices, have quick load times, and offer a good user experience.
Much like how a content marketing system has connecting parts, a great website follows a similar formula. In fact, a website’s performance and SEO optimization work in tandem with a content marketing system.
Powerful websites can yield several benefits for your business. Studies have shown that over 50% of customers leave a website that takes over three seconds to load. According to Hubspot, additional studies revealed that nearly 80% of customers who are dissatisfied with a website won’t make a purchase.
This is a method Morgan Lathaen, Marketing & Brand Coordinator for Thumbprint, utilizes. “Your business website is one of your most crucial assets. It’s like your digital office,” she said. “A high-performance website is a great way to get better visibility. Always remember to add fresh content to your website, link social media channels and set up an email newsletter for maximum visibility.”
A sleek website never hurt anyone. But, ensure that it’s also optimized for the best possible UX to draw in more customers and purchases. Remember that you only have a few seconds to wow someone and a great website is your first line of defense.
Bring on the Evergreen Content
You can get more from your content marketing efforts with evergreen blog posts. For those unfamiliar with the term, evergreen content is content that’s always relevant. It’s also content that readers can turn back to over and over. When you include evergreen content on your blog, potential clients can find it long after you published it. Therefore, your content establishes you as a thought leader and can bring in customers and views for years. Not bad, huh?
Roxanne Williams, the Content and Communications Manager for System One believes in this strategy as well. “[Evergreen] content must be original, useful, optimized for SEO, long-form, and something people will search in Google,” she said. “For example, at a prior company, I wrote an article called ‘The Top 10 Tech Companies to Work for in Tampa’. That was two years ago, and it’s still the top result on Google. It’s something people will always search for, so it doesn’t lose relevance.”
Though not everyone has the time to write a collection of content. Some also aren’t as necessarily gifted in the craft as others. If writing isn’t your forte, Williams suggests picking a writer who knows your industry in and out, including industry terms.
Constant Revision and Optimizing
As we mentioned before, content marketing undergoes consistent changes. So, you’ll need to keep on top of the latest algorithms and make adjustments accordingly. That said, it’s also a good idea to go back and revisit old content. By updating older content, you provide readers with consistently relevant information and help your ranking.
Wrapping Everything Up
Content marketing can bring your company the kind of progress you want most. Thorough research into your target audience, competition, and content can help you reap additional benefits. Lay everything out in a content marketing system, ensure your website is up to code, and opt for evergreen content when you can.